


Mixed up, muddled up, shook up world

by moodorbs



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: BUT ONLY ONCE, Bonding, F/M, Flower scout David, Fluff, Friendly banter, Pre-Relationship, Trans David (Camp Camp), Trans Gwen (Camp Camp), Wood scout Gwen, deadnaming, god...i lvoe them.......hrnghfnghfmf, theft of Capri Moons, they're both trans okay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-27
Updated: 2020-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-12 20:38:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22930084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moodorbs/pseuds/moodorbs
Summary: Names have power. Chosen names doubly so. Gwen Camhi and David Nussbaum find themselves.Flower Scout David, Wood Scout Gwen.
Relationships: David/Gwen (Camp Camp)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 54





	Mixed up, muddled up, shook up world

**Author's Note:**

> I just.... Love the concept of them finding themselves and hanging out. Comments make my day, I'd love to hear what you think about this AU!

"MISS Nussbaum! What do you think you're doing?"

Her voice rockets through the boy's ears, and he freezes in place, caught in the admonishing tone of his Garden Mother. He curses to himself and wheels around, clutching the cardboard box of Capri Moons to his chest like a robber caught leaving the scene of the crime.

Miss Priss taps her perfectly buffed stilleto on the pavement, expectant look in her eyes.

"What have we forgotten, Heather? Garden Mommy can't wait all day."

He sighs. No need to correct her this time, she'll just hold him up.

"Any injuries sustained by me outside of Flower Scout property is not the liability of the Flower Scouts."

She claps her hands together.

"Now off you go, and don't forget to feed the peacock tonight, you're on animal chores for sneaking out so often."

"Yeah, I know. I've got it."

\-----

The forest is quiet and he loves it. Branches snap under his boots--boots borrowed from the girl, boots loaned on the contingency that he do what he's promised to do today.

She's already there, because of course she is--Wood Scouts are punctual to a fault, and she can tell the time by the sun, something the boy is envious of. Maybe if he wasn't in a skirt, if his entire camp wasn't pristine concrete and flawless pink and white stucco, if he was in the actual forest instead of a resort, he could learn it too. If if if.

The girl smiles--well, gets as close to smiling as she ever does. He counts it an honor he gets to see it at all.

"Nussbaum. Got a name yet?"

It's a game they play--they both know they'd be the first to be told if the other'd figured it out--but the boy plays along.

"Maybe so. You, Camhi?"

There's a spark in her eyes as she grabs for the Capri Moon box, which Nussbaum willingly hands over. Camhi digs through it, placing the items inside carefully on the ground in front of her.

A makeup kit.

A skirt.

A sheaf of printed out tips.

The girl flips what little hair she's managed to get past morning inspections over her shoulder, and motions for the boy to turn around as she changes into the skirt, relinquishing him her Wood Scout shorts once she's done. It's a ritual they do each time they meet up, something small but mighty, an homage to who they are now and who they've vowed to each other to become.

He pulls on the shorts, and they're just a little bigger on him than they used to be, a tiny bit harder to pull the belt snugly against his waist, but that's not something he wants to think about right now and so he doesn't.

Instead, he sits down in front of the girl, who's crosslegged in the dirt, examining the printed-out eyeliner tutorials. She shoves one into his hands and he looks at it for a moment, then sets it aside and rubs his hands together before picking up the makeup bag.

He always talks when he does this, to fill the silence in the air as much as in his own mind, but as he uncaps the liquid eyeliner and taps the brush against the rim the girl speaks up.

"...I think I might know what I want my name to be."

The boy pulls away, grinning. "Oh, really? That's fantastic!"

She blushes, barely noticeable againdt her already-dark tan.

"It's kind of a basic requirement of being human, Nussbaum."

"Yeah, but still! It's awesome you found one you like. What's it from?"

The girl rolls her eyes, and the boy leans back in, outlining her right lid in striking black.

"You're going to think it's stupid."

A pout forms on his face, overdone in mock injury.

"C'mon, Camhi, spill!"

"...Fine. Gwendolyn. Gwen. Like in Charmed Life."

He beams. It suits her, the boy thinks, beautiful and fluid and so alive but also just a tad rough around the edges, abrasive until you get to know her. He nods.

"A perfect name. Gwendolyn Camhi."

It's rare that she smiles more than a twitch of one of the corners of her mouth, even rarer for a smirk, but at hearing her name for the first time from someone's mouth other than hers Gwen beams. Her teeth are showing, lips pulled back, dimples deep in her cheeks, eyes squeezed shut in euphoria as she basks in the validation. Gwen. Gwen Gwen Gwen. That's her now. That's who she is.

She's beautiful like this, the boy thinks. One eye smeared, skin dappled with forest sunlight, practically glowing. He's stunned until she remembers herself, rearranges her features back into careful apathy, and taps the eyeliner bottle.

"Finish up or I'm taking my boots back."

They both know that's an empty threat, that it's exactly as likely as the boy suddenly extolling the virtues of needlepoint, but it's effective, and he quiets. Still, he holds a snapshot of her smiling face in his mind, one he'll revisit when he needs a boost to get him through the endless days.

He's got news, too, in the same vein, but he doesn't want to steal her thunder, doesn't want to take away from her moment. Gwen can tell, though, of course she can, and so she moves away from his makeup ministrations and fixes him with a piercing gaze.

"You found one too, didn't you."

It's more a statement of fact than a question, and the boy winces.

"Yeah. I--I did."

She glares at him expectantly.

"So? Out with it, Nussbaum. What'm I gonna call you when we're out of here?"

A blush creeps up his face, deep red and all-encompassing. He hates how easily he blushes, how simple it is for his freckles to be overtaken by a sea of crimson. It makes him look girly, fragile, someone he refuses to be.

"David. David Tirzah."

Gwen smirks.

"Of course it's biblical."

"Hey! It means beloved tree!"

This just makes her snort laugh, because of fucking _course_ he named himself beloved tree. Of course he did.

Wiping a tear from her eye, she glances up to a worried boy, face creased with anxiety.

"Oh, jeez, I picked a stupid name! Crap, I shouldn't have told you, I--"

Gwen shushes him with a finger to his lips.

"No. It's perfect. Perfect for you."

The smile that engulfs him is absolutely dazzling, and they sit like that for a bit, slipping back into the easy rhythm of their friendship, the camaraderie they've developed from having only each other against the rest of the world.

David's nodding off, head in Gwen's lap, when she startles up. Venus is in the sky, they're both late for dinner, and holy shit they are _screwed_. She pushes him off despite his protests, helping him up as they both scramble to change back into their respective uniforms.

Gwen squeezes David's hand before heading in the opposite direction as him, back to the Wood Scouts, back to her own personal hell. She looks him in the eye.

"G'night, David Tirzah Nussbaum."

"Lilah Tov, Gwendolyn Camhi."


End file.
